The land where the Moose Jaw Union Hospital once stood was taken the first steps to being rezoned as mixed use for commercial and residential.

Director of planning and development Michelle Sanson said the City of Moose Jaw bought the land from the province in 2015 for $683.566.80.

“Part of that was that we were going to go for a RFP (request for proposal) to sell the land, and in the meantime we’ve been working on some studies to ensure the land is clear with phase one and phase two geotechnical (assessments),” said Sanson.

That would typically include surface and subsurface soil sampling and radiation testing to make sure there’s no remedial plans necessary to develop the land.

“Now we’re looking at rezoning the land to R4, which is a mixed use commercial and residential mix, from community service, which it was it currently is zoned,” said Sanson. “The mixed use zoning would allow for a variety of uses on the property from residential to commercial to a mix of those as well.”

There has been some interest in purchasing the land, she said.

“That’s why we’re going to an RFP to ensure we do have a competitive bid for the property,” said Sanson.

The next steps in the process of will be through an Official Community Plan (OCP) amendment from ‘future community service’ to ‘future commercial and residential mix’.

“And then from that, we will need ministerial approval,” Sanson said. “And then on to the zoning bylaw amendment, so it’s going to take a few months to get through those few steps. And then following that we would take a draft RFP to council for approval prior to issuing for the public.”

Once they are in the rezoning process, neighbours within 90 metres will receive notice and those residents will have a chance to comment on it.

“There are properties to the east that we are looking at rezoning from community service to residential,” Sanson said. “Currently, they’re all single detached dwellings and it would probably make more sense for them to be residential when they go to sell... so they’ve already been notified of this process.”

City history buffs will remember how the old Providence Hospital on South Hill was knocked down in 2006 and houses now have been built on much of the site.